Friday, March 1, 2019

Lottery Party - Review of Monsters 101, Book One

03 April 2012Monsters 101, Book One"From Bully to Monster"
Created, written and illustrated
by M. Rasheed

the three cents:
This debut of a ten-part graphic novel series opens the story of Willy Pugg, the biggest and baddest bully at Tanglewood Middle School. Every stereotype the concept of "bully" calls to mind Pugg is indeed guilty of, and worse. From beating up his fellow students to freely disrespecting his elders, Pugg is seen by all as a little monster...until he encounters the real deal. Rasheed's story here goes from Pugg the young rapscallion to a transformation that might make even Franz Kafka blush a little. Rasheed tells a very easy to follow tale, with a breezy narrative that shows you who Pugg really is through his interactions with a number of very different characters, contrasting personalities and all. The basic premise is also very smartly considered, with a nice effort at character development which I can only presume increases thusly as the rest of the series unfolds. This is absolutely a fun read, with more than enough originality to maintain the interest of anyone who gives it a chance. It should be noted though, that Rasheed's story and art in combination are a bit sneaky. While the art has a nice black and white illustrative style, maybe more than a little on the cartoony side, the story itself is at times every bit as dark as the great (and innuendo-entrenched) Where The Wild Things Are- a book that may well have inspired Rasheed to some small degree. As with many bullies in the real world, there are generally reasons why they act out the way they do, and Pugg is certainly no different in that respect. Pugg is quite dumb and inconsiderate and an overgrown thug, sure; but he is an interesting character nonetheless. The art is comfortable and growingly confident. The monsters shown are very imaginative. And, there really are stretches where the brushy style fools you into thinking the tale you're reading is more innocent than it is, but then some poor kid is ripped in two by something big and scary and drooling and hungry. Like a one-two punch that keeps you turning the pages. Obviously this isn't the artist trying to pervert the minds of impressionable youth, as younger readers really shouldn't be reading this to begin with. I think it's more in keeping with the idea that, as with any interpersonal relationship, the lives of children can be much more complicated than they may at first seem. Additionally, as of this review I understand he is hard at work on Book Seven. Along the way Rasheed has stayed busy with a number of projects, from commercial art to several web-comics to even authoring some "proper" non-comic books. But, Monsters 101 is what he keeps coming back to. If a work can so entrance its creator, then I like to think that such passion shows through in the final product. While this may not be for everyone, this is a very intriguing setup that I personally wouldn't mind exploring more. Very fun stuff.

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About Me

"I see the world as a multi-layered, encrypted message—encrypted for countless reasons, by numerous sources. I believe our job as actively-engaged humans is to decode these messages for our own use and to document them for the greater body of human literature at the means each individual has at hand. As an artist—specifically, a cartoonist—that is the means/medium I use for my own decoding duties. Through my research, I use logic, reason and intellect to intuitively follow the knowledge thread that intrigues me, connecting the dots from pattern recognition, and producing the cartoons that form my socio-political analysis."